Le Grand Regard Greeting

Cat. No. 1107/II

Le Grand Regard Greeting

State/Variant:
State II of II
Date:
1948
Alternate Title:
Winged Head
Themes
Abstraction, Faces & Portaits
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 6 15/16 x 8 7/8" (17.7 x 22.6 cm); sheet: 8 1/16 × 10 5/16" (20.5 × 26.2 cm)
Signature:
"L. Bourgeois." lower left margin, pencil.
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Louise Bourgeois
Edition:
1 known impression of state II
Edition Information:
Not issued as a published edition at any state.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
David Porter, who commissioned this greeting card, came to know the artist when he worked at Public Works News in New York. He had a Bourgeois lithograph hanging in his office (according to an undated letter in MoMA Collection records). As a dealer in Washington, D.C., he organized the 1945 exhibition "Personal Statement: Painting Prophecy 1950," which included "Natural History #2," seen in Related Works in Other Mediums below. (To read the artist's statement from the exhibition catalogue, see Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist's "Destruction of the Father/Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and Interviews, 1923-1997." London: Violette, 1998, p. 44.) Bourgeois did not know whether, as planned, Porter actually had greeting cards made using her design.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 6
Description:
Soft ground etching, with pencil additions
Inscription:
"Best wishes / David Porter" lower center comp., pencil, artist's hand. Verso: "arranger image très formels / faire tête intéressante & sérieuse / Commissioned by D.P. for a greeting card 1948," (upside down) lower center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from state I, in soft ground etching: winged head further delineated; ovals added in upper comp.; shading lines added throughout.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
142.1990
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Le Grand Regard Greeting

1948

States
Le Grand Regard Greeting
Le Grand Regard Greeting

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled
Greetings: Laughing Monster, plate 1 of 9, from the portfolio, Quarantania

Related Works in Other Mediums

Natural History #2
Winged Head
Joyeux Noel
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled